


7.16 Coda: Didn’t Know

by hannahindie



Category: The Walking Dead
Genre: Daryl x Carol, F/M, carol peletier - Freeform, daryl dixon - Freeform, flangst, the walking dead - Freeform, the walking dead fanfic, the walking dead fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 16:17:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17083610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahindie/pseuds/hannahindie
Summary: Season 7 finale Coda. I don't know, man. Just some feelings I had.





	7.16 Coda: Didn’t Know

Daryl sat on the front porch steps, his eyes on the small, wooden figure he was twirling between his fingers. _Didn’t know_. He wasn’t sure how full of shit Dwight might be, but he’d already made up his mind that once this war was over and if Dwight made it…he’d kill him. His gaze moved down the street to where he could see Carol sitting on another porch with Morgan. She’d come home. In the end, when her family needed her, she’d come home. He wondered if he should have told her the truth when he had finally found her, but she’d looked so sad already.

God, the relief he’d felt when he’d found her. The moment he’d knocked on that door and she’d finally answered it, he knew. There was a brief moment where he thought she wouldn’t come to the door; he’d been there himself back on the farm and she had pulled him out of it. But when it slowly opened and the dim lamp light had cast her shadow long against the porch, his heart felt like it could stop. He had almost forgotten how beautiful she was; the curl in her short hair as it wrapped gently around the shell of her ear, her blue eyes that had widened in surprise at the sight of him on the porch, the way in which she held herself before finally throwing herself against him, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

It was because of all these things that when she’d asked about everyone, when she’d looked at him so expectantly and on the verge of tears, Daryl had made the decision to lie. Out of everyone in this new life, she was the last person he would keep anything from deliberately, but in that moment he knew that he had the power to destroy whatever life she was trying to build for herself. He realized then that it didn’t matter if he would be happier if she came home, that he would feel more complete with her there, if he truly loved her he would keep her safe…even if that meant keeping the truth from her.

Then Negan had come. For the first time since he’d left her at that little house, he didn’t feel guilty. As Daryl watched Sasha stumble out of that coffin, as he watched everything move in slow motion as the first shots were fired and the war began, he was grateful that Carol wasn’t here. The farther from Negan and this mess, the better. A part of him wished he would have stayed with her, but in the end this was where he belonged. He’d known this was where he belonged since he had found Sophia in that barn.

Daryl had held his breath as he watched Negan threaten Rick, and had turned away as he’d moved behind Carl with Lucille. He felt somewhat ashamed, but he couldn’t bare to watch Carl suffer the same fate as Glenn. Then as quickly as it had started, it was over. Shiva had appeared out of nowhere, and then there was Ezekiel, giving his ‘not today’ speech. Daryl wasn’t sure why he was surprised that the Kingdom had made an appearance, maybe because Ezekiel had made it pretty clear that they needed to keep their heads down in order to keep the Kingdom safe, but he was glad they’d changed their minds. Suddenly, there she was, walking through the hail of gunfire and taking out Saviors left and right like it was something she was born to do.

Daryl had been lucky he wasn’t killed as he stood and watched her move gracefully through the fighting, shooting and stabbing like she’d never stepped away. As he looked down the street now, he knew that he couldn’t be separated from her again. He’d lost her three times, and somehow he’d managed to get her back every time. He wasn’t sure he’d be lucky enough for a fourth time. He dropped his head back down and continued to stare at the wooden figure in his hand. _Didn’t know_. Whether Dwight had known or not was yet to be seen, but Daryl was worried that they would find out soon enough.

“Hey Pookie, whatcha doing?” Daryl looked up to see Carol standing over him, her hands on her hips and smiling at him.

He grunted and scooted over so that she could sit down, “You came back.”

Carol nodded and leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, “I did.”

They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the company the other offered, until Daryl’s voice broke the quiet, “I’m sorry.”

Carol looked over at Daryl, his head hanging low as he continued to fiddle with the wooden figure, and her heart ached. She wanted to reach out and smooth the hair out of his face and insist that he never had to be sorry for anything, but she knew that’s not how Daryl worked.

“Sorry for what?”

He sighed, “For lyin’ to ya. Shouldn’t have done that.” They fell quiet again and Daryl felt Carol slide a little closer to him, close enough that their legs were barely touching, and he looked over at her.

“You don’t have to apologize for that, Daryl. I wasn’t ready to hear it. I think, deep down, I knew that not everyone was okay. You…you did what you thought was best.”

Daryl nodded, then turned his attention towards the front gate, “Negan knows I’m here now. He knows about Maggie….the Kingdom. He ain’t gonna stop.” Daryl was not one to show fear, but she could hear it in the way he said Negan, the way his eyes stared vacantly towards the gate. She moved to put her hand on his, paused, then decided if she didn’t do it now she wouldn’t. Daryl flinched at the feel of her skin against his, then looked at her in surprise.

“You’re right, he does know. And no, he won’t stop on his own, but we will find a way to stop him. We’ve been through this before and got through it. Admittedly, he’s pretty awful, but everyone has their weakness, Daryl. The question is, does he have the same kind of family that we have to help support those weaknesses?”

Daryl shook his head, “You haven’t seen…they ain’t like the Governor’s people. They’re organized, they’d do anything for him. Even Eugene…”

Carol waved him off with her free hand, “I can’t take anyone with a mullet seriously, and Eugene is no exception.” Daryl chuckled but had dropped his head again. Carol decided to push a little further and laced her fingers with his, “Fear does not a good leader make, Daryl. It may seem like they would do anything for him, but if that’s based on fear and only fear…they’ll make the right decision if given the choice. Maybe not all of them, but we only need a handful.” She nodded towards the wooden figure he was still holding, “Can we trust the person that left that behind?”

Daryl shrugged, “I dunno. Probably not, but I’ve been wrong before. Still feel like killin’ him, don’t matter to me if we can trust him or not.”

Carol squeezed his hand, “I understand that feeling, but I think that maybe you ought to hold off on that and see what he plans to do. To be fair, it can’t really get much worse than it is now, right?” Carol smiled and Daryl let the corner of his mouth go up in a smirk. Carol wasn’t wrong, and he knew it. She stood, still holding onto his hand, and nodded toward the street, “Come on, we’ve got some cleaning up to do. If you help me, maybe I’ll bake you some of those acorn cookies.”

Daryl chuckled as he stood slowly, “That ain’t much of a bribe.”

Carol looked at him like she was offended, “Do you not like my acorn cookies? I’ll have you know, they are the best acorn cookies this side of DC.”

Daryl snorted, “I guess you ain’t wrong there.” Carol pushed at him with her shoulder as they began walking toward the group that had gathered near the center of all the commotion, their fingers still intertwined.


End file.
